EMU College of Business Makes It 10 Straight Years on Princeton Review List

Eastern Michigan University's College of Business has done it again - making the Princeton Review's list of top business schools in the country for the 10th straight year. WEMU's Bob Eccles has the story.

YPSILANTI -Eastern Michigan University's College of Business is an "outstanding" business school, according to The Princeton Review. The education services company features Eastern in the new 2014 edition of its book, "The Best 295 Business Schools."

"This recognition, awarded for the 10th consecutive year, illustrates that our faculty are providing a relevant, high quality education for our students, who are going on to excellent and meaningful careers," said Michael Tidwell, dean of EMU's College of Business.

Robert Franek, Princeton Review Senior VP-Publisher, says, "We chose the schools we profile in this book based on our high regard for their academic programs and our reviews of institutional data we collect from the schools. We also solicit and greatly respect the opinions of students attending these schools, who rate and report on their experiences at them on our 80-question student survey for the book."

The ranking tallies factor in data from Princeton Review's surveys of business school students completed online at http://survey.review.com during academic years 2012-13, 2011-12, and 2010-11.

The survey asked students about their school's academics, student body and campus life, and their career plans. On average, 68 students at each business school were surveyed for the lists in the books' 2014 editions. All institutional data reported in the books was collected in 2012-13. The Princeton Review explains the basis for each rating score in the book and on its website at http://www.princetonreview.com/guide-business-ratings.aspx

Comments (with student remarks’ in quotes) about Eastern Michigan's College of Business in the 2014 book include:

• With its convenient location, “experienced professors,” and “low tuition,” the MBA degree at Eastern offers a great return on investment.

• “Designed for working professionals,” EMU’s MBA courses are offered in the evenings, on the weekends, via the Internet, and through hybrid online/classroom delivery. The format is totally flexible, and students can take as little as one class per semester and up to a full course load. While balancing a career and an education can be tricky business, students say EMU “provides great support for students and an overall great atmosphere of learning.”

• Students say it’s “great to interact with other professionals” at the College of Business, describing their classmates as “career-oriented” and “ambitious,” yet “easy to get along with.”

• Students note that graduate classes are small, offering the opportunity to “work directly with professors who provide PhD-level class time, rather than having to work through a teaching assistant.” The result, students say, is a dynamic classroom environment, in which discussion is encouraged and “professors challenge you to develop your own opinions regarding global business and economies.”

• In addition to the professors, there is “lots of diverse work experience among the students,” adding even more depth to the academic environment.

The EMU MBA program offers the opportunity to specialize in contemporary fields such as e-business, entrepreneurship, international business and nonprofit management in addition to traditional fields such as marketing and supply chain management.

EMU's MBA programs are appropriate to students in every stage of their career, and classes can be taken full-time, part-time, online, or through a hybrid of online and in- class coursework.

The Princeton Review does not rank the business schools in the book on a single hierarchical list from 1 to 295.

The EMU College of Business has approximately 2,500 undergraduate students pursuing one of 12 majors and 700 graduate students pursuing either an MBA, Masters of Information Systems, Masters of Integrated Marketing Communications, Masters of Human Resources and Organizational Development or Masters of Accounting.

The Princeton Review (http://www.princetonreview.com) is also known for its many categories of college rankings, its classroom and online test-prep courses, tutoring and its other education services. Headquartered in Framingham, MA, the Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University and it is not a magazine.

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